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Stepping into summer

Defining the direction of electronic music, bass-heavy dubstep has gone mainstream — and is set to be a festival smash

Serena Kutchinsky

May 1 2011, 1:01am, The Sunday Times

James Blake. (Anorak/Toast)

A particular strand of urban music is having its moment. The toast of the charts and the underground, bass-heavy sounds can be heard everywhere from the Brit Awards to basement raves. Dubstep has shuffled out of the shadows to become 2011’s most talked-about sound. Defined as 140 beats per minute dance music, dubstep is a direct descendant of garage and drum’n’bass. Unlike its more rigid predecessors, it has expanded beyond the dancefloor to become a cross-over sensation, with even Britney and John Legend incorporating it into their productions.

In a refreshing change to the manufactured pop status quo, the likes of the dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man, the folkish wunderkind James Blake and the Ms Dynamite collaborator Katy B have all scored Top 10 albums and…

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